Surname Saturday - Ancestor #17 - Ellender Vickers

One of my goals for 2012 is to use the Surname Saturday blogging prompt as a way to assure that I spend some time researching each of my family lines and that I have appropriate source citations for the genealogical facts related to my ancestors. I’ve decided to use my ahnentafel report and work back through the generations starting with my grandparents, writing a summary of each ancestor. If you discovered this post through a search engine and find one of your ancestors listed here, please leave a comment to let me know.

My paternal 2^nd great-grandmother Ellender Vickers was born in January 1817 in Georgia.[1] Her parents are unknown.

Ellender married Ransom Spurlock on 20 April 1836 in Barbour County, Alabama.[2] They had ten children:

• Frances Elizabeth (1837-1932)[3]
• William Green (1838-1862)[4]
• Sarah Frances (1839-1931)[5]^,[6]
• Marcus D. Lafayette Spurlock (1842-1922)[7]
• George Marion (1844-1880)[8]
• Mary Ann (1846-1888)[9]
• Elizabeth Rebecca (1848-before 1900)[10]^,[11]
• John Fedrick (1850-1945)[12] – my great-grandfather
• James Joshua (1853-1889)[13]^,[14]
• Jasper Newton (1856-1858)[15]

I don’t know much about Ellender, but on the 1900 federal census, she is enumerated at the age of 82, still living on her own as a farmer. Of her 10 children, only four were still living. [16]

According to the information in my database, Ellender died 11 November 1906,[17] However, a document in her pension file indicates that she was paid to 4 May 1908.[18] She is buried at the Mt. Zion (Driskill) Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Her tombstone is inscribed “Grandma Spurlock” and records her life span as 1800-1908![19]

I have few clues to the identity of Ellender’s parents. One source states that her mother was a “Smith.” In the 1840 federal census for Hinds County, Mississippi, Joshua Vickers is enumerated as the visit after Ransom Spurlock. In the 1850 census for Bienville Parish, Louisiana, Elleonder Vickers is enumerated two visits away from Ransom and Ellender (Vickers) Spurlock and her household includes Joshua Vickers. Unfortunately, the 1860 census for Bienville Parish was lost, and I cannot find any of these individuals elsewhere. I suspect there is a relationship but have been unable to determine the exact nature. There are many Vickers families in Georgia and northern Florida which all seem to be interrelated but I cannot place her in any of these families.

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[1] 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, Police Jury Ward 6, Claiborne, Louisiana, enumeration district (ED) 22, p. 4A, dwelling 57, family 57, household of Ellendor Spurlock; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Feb 2010); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 562.

[2] Ransom Spurlock, Indian Wars Pension Application No. 445, Declaration of Survivor, dated 12 Aug 1892; National Archives, Washington.. [No marriage record was found in Barbour County, Alabama.]

[3] Mt. Zion (Driskill) Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery (Bienville Parish, Louisiana), Francis Miller marker, personally read and photographed, 2009.

[4] William G. Spurlock; War Department Collection of Confederate Records; Record Group 109; digital images, "Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana," Footnote (www.footnote.com : accessed 17 May 2011).

[5] 1850 U.S. census, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Western District, p. 287B, dwelling 553, family 553, household of Ramsun Spurlock; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Feb 2010); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M432, roll 230.

[6] Mt. Zion (Driskill) Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery (Bienville Parish, Louisiana; 2009), Sallie Duncan marker, personally read and photographed, 2009.

[7] findagrave.com, digital images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 27 Apr 2012), Marcus DeLafayette Spurlock, Memorial #15472736, created by Foster L. Spurlock, 23 August 2006.

[8] Lilac Cemetery (Milam, Texas), G. M. Spurlock marker, personally read and photographed, 2010.

[9] findagrave.com, digital images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 27 Apr 2012), Mary Ann Spurlock Kilpatrick, Memorial #15474030, created by Foster L. Spurlock, 23 August 2006.

[10] 1850 U.S. Bienville, Louisiana, census, pop. sch., Western District, p. 287B, dwell. 553, fam. 553, household of Ramsun Spurlock.

[11] 1900 U.S. census, Claiborne, Louisiana, pop. sch., Police Jury Ward 6, ED 22, p. 4A, dwell. 57, fam. 57, household of Ellendor Spurlock.

[12] Louisiana State Department of Health, death certificate 519 68 (1945), John Fred Spurlock; Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge.

[13] 1870 U.S. census, Claiborne, Louisiana, population schedule, Ward 5, p. 149B, dwelling 73, household of R. Spurlock (continued from previous page); digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Feb 2010); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 510.

[14] "Volentine school house Dots.," Homer Guardian, 25 Jan 1889, p. 2, col. 4; digital images, Chronicling America (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 17 Feb 2012).

[15] Spurlock Family Association, database, family group sheet dated 23 Jul 1996.

[16] 1900 U.S. census, Claiborne, Louisiana, pop. sch., Police Jury Ward 6, ED 22, p. 4A, dwell. 57, fam. 57, household of Ellendor Spurlock.

[17] Spurlock Family Association, database, family group sheet dated 23 Jul 1996.

[18] Ellender Spurlock, Indian Wars Widows Pension Certificate No. 5052, card titled “Indian Wars Pensioner Dropped” dated 23 Feb 1909.

[19] Mt. Zion (Driskill) Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery (Bienville Parish, Louisiana), Grandma [Ellender Vickers] Spurlock marker, photograph by Denise Spurlock, 1999.

© 2012 Denise Spurlock